Illustration of Blue Bell tavern in New York City, located on the old New York-Albany post road.
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Lone postal riders carried mail along such desolate roads between Boston and New York beginning in 1673. The riders used an axe to make a slash on trees along the trail, marking the way for those who would follow them.
The American colonies began as lonely coastal settlements, separated by dense forests.
Settlers were more eager for news of their families and homelands overseas than for news
from other colonies. The British government, however, needed reliable mail service
throughout the American colonies for official communications with colonial governors.
The British North American Postal System
In 1692 the English sovereigns William and Mary granted a royal patent to Thomas Neale to operate
a colonial postal system. Neale, who never set foot on the North American continent, appointed
New Jersey governor Andrew Hamilton as his deputy. Hamilton then appointed postmasters in every
British colony.
On May 1, 1693, the Internal Colonial Postal Union began weekly service between Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, and Williamsburg, Virginia. It established post offices, consulted with colonial assemblies
about postal rates, and made the mail a service Americans came to expect. It did not, however, make
money.
The colonial population was spread too thinly along 500 miles of coastline to support a long-distance
post. The new British post lost money whenever ship captains and even some post riders carried letters
for personal profit.
Well into the 18th century, mail to the North American colonies was left at public gathering spots such
as taverns and inns, as there were no post office buildings to receive the correspondence.
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1655 map of the American colonies showing English, French, Dutch,
Spanish and Swedish claimed territories
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